031: Tim Leighton-Boyce/Read And Destroy

“For me skateboarding was always antiestablishment. It was an underground thing. Something you did because you weren’t into competitive sports”.

Photographer, editor, publisher, visionary – my guest for episode 031 of the Looking Sideways podcast is truly one of the unsung heroes of the UK action sports community: Tim Leighton-Boyce.

Tim’s classic sequence of Simon Evans for his 1992 interview.

Tim was the main driving force behind the legendary R.A.D magazine, the much-loved UK skateboarding institution that did so much to support UK skateboarding and skate culture during a critical time in the scene’s development on these shores.

Steve Cabballero, Southsea, 1988

You can get an understanding of its importance from the popularity of the @readanddestroy Instagram account, currently being run by R.A.D. alumnus Dan Adams, who is doing a brilliant job of shining a light on this specific period in UK skateboarding history.

“The first time I saw him I knew he was special” Tom Penny, 1991.

When I started the podcast, ‘TLB’ was one of the first name on the list so I was stoked to head up to London to interview him about these years, and pay homage to a man and a scene that had such an influence on myself and countless others.